Belmont Entries for 5/29.... Very Poor

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by jms62

3 Maiden claimers on a Holiday weekend Saturday card and thats ok? Come on Steve, your fans expect you to be a little more non-partisan than that.

Non-partisan? I'm all for trying to prune racing schedules to enhance the product. Being supportive of NY doesn't preclude being negative about anything or anywhere else. Go find someone in the industry media more supportive of things than me. I simply find it bizarre that the NY cards are held under some special scrutiny. Where were these examinations of Monmouth's cards when they sucked year after year? Where are they regarding Kentucky, California and Illinois?

It's an intense sequence of racing in NY this Saturday through next Saturday. Every single card cannot be filled with ALW's and Stakes. Racing secretaries build their slates in as balanced a manner as they can when they are anticipating the kind of days coming up like Memorial Day and Belmont Day. They use the stock on the grounds. If there are tons of maidens on the grounds, state bred or otherwise, you run maiden races. There is also seasonality involved in the flow of the condition books. You run maiden races in the spring at Belmont so you can run ALW's in the summer at Saratoga. Ain't no ALW's if you don't have horses that haven't won...

And some thoughts on my 'partisanship'. I make no apologies for being especially supportive when it comes to New York racing. For one thing, this summer will be my 10th year working on the grounds of Saratoga. While not a NYRA employee, I was there through the arduous period of the pre-renewal of the franchise, and know the specifics of the franchise debate as well or better than anyone. And I know how hard most people at NYRA work to put on the best show possible. And most take the same pride I do in being part of the show (even in the tiny way my foodservice facility is part of the show).

I also know how the Pataki administration worked to prevent the Aqueduct VLT parlor from being built in an attempt to financially hamstring the Association so the "Friends of NY Racing"/Empire group could foist the franchise into their hands. That perverted attempt to gain the franchise and the racino for their own greedy purposes has placed NY racing and breeding in the position it's in right now. And the fact that the New York media was too lazy to investigate those specifics or willfully ignored them, is a disgrace.

Every schithole harness track in the state has their VLT parlor installed, and the most important facility that was approved a decade ago STILL SITS WAITING TO BE BUILT... Yet the editorial boards of the embarrassing newspapers here and downstate have failed to examine or decry why $1,000,000 a day in revenue has been missed for the past 2,920 or so days (Yeah.. roughly $3,000,000,00). As a taxpayer in NY, I wonder how there isn't an absolute uproar from the citizenry as to the whys and wherefores of this missed revenue opportunity.

New York racing and breeding should be at the apex of its' success and strength, and instead is being forced to nearly start over. I'm tired of the over the top smears and attacks on a group of people currently at NYRA that have nothing to do with Kenny Noe, Terry Meyocks, Barry Schwartz or anything that happened on the watch of other Association administrations. And I'm completely fed up with the inane, brainless spew I see daily elsewhere on the internet regarding NYRA, the VLT parlor, the state and the OTB situation. So if I'm 'partisan', I feel quite justified in being so.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by Kasept

Non-partisan? I'm all for trying to prune racing schedules to enhance the product. Being supportive of NY doesn't preclude being negative about anything or anywhere else. Go find someone in the industry media more supportive of things than me. I simply find it bizarre that the NY cards are held under some special scrutiny. Where were these examinations of Monmouth's cards when they sucked year after year? Where are they regarding Kentucky, California and Illinois?

It's an intense sequence of racing in NY this Saturday through next Saturday. Every single card cannot be filled with ALW's and Stakes. Racing secretaries build their slates in as balanced a manner as they can when they are anticipating the kind of days coming up like Memorial Day and Belmont Day. They use the stock on the grounds. If there are tons of maidens on the grounds, state bred or otherwise, you run maiden races. There is also seasonality involved in the flow of the condition books. You run maiden races in the spring at Belmont so you can run ALW's in the summer at Saratoga. Ain't no ALW's if you don't have horses that haven't won...

And some thoughts on my 'partisanship'. I make no apologies for being especially supportive when it comes to New York racing. For one thing, this summer will be my 10th year working on the grounds of Saratoga. While not a NYRA employee, I was there through the arduous period of the pre-renewal of the franchise, and know the specifics of the franchise debate as well or better than anyone. And I know how hard most people at NYRA work to put on the best show possible. And most take the same pride I do in being part of the show (even in the tiny way my foodservice facility is part of the show).

I also know how the Pataki administration worked to prevent the Aqueduct VLT parlor from being built in an attempt to financially hamstring the Association so the "Friends of NY Racing"/Empire group could foist the franchise into their hands. That perverted attempt to gain the franchise and the racino for their own greedy purposes has placed NY racing and breeding in the position it's in right now. And the fact that the New York media was too lazy to investigate those specifics or willfully ignored them, is a disgrace.

Every schithole harness track in the state has their VLT parlor installed, and the most important facility that was approved a decade ago STILL SITS WAITING TO BE BUILT... Yet the editorial boards of the embarrassing newspapers here and downstate have failed to examine or decry why $1,000,000 a day in revenue has been missed for the past 2,920 or so days (Yeah.. roughly $3,000,000,00). As a taxpayer in NY, I wonder how there isn't an absolute uproar from the citizenry as to the whys and wherefores of this missed revenue opportunity.

New York racing and breeding should be at the apex of its' success and strength, and instead is being forced to nearly start over. I'm tired of the over the top smears and attacks on a group of people currently at NYRA that have nothing to do with Kenny Noe, Terry Meyocks, Barry Schwartz or anything that happened on the watch of other Association administrations. And I'm completely fed up with the inane, brainless spew I see daily elsewhere on the internet regarding NYRA, the VLT parlor, the state and the OTB situation. So if I'm 'partisan', I feel quite justified in being so.

I agree with everything you say regarding the current state of affairs but if New York is the pinnacle of racing then why do you find it bizzare that its customers bitch about a Sat Holiday card with 3 Maiden Claimers? We expect/deserve more on a Sat Holiday weekend.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by Kasept

New York racing and breeding should be at the apex of its' success and strength, and instead is being forced to nearly start over.

No truer words have been spoken. Given the VLT fiasco, NYRA has been able to cobble together cards largely due to the large number of NY-breds born after the Funny Cide breeding boom here in the state. If they don't get that problem solved soon, there may not be a breeding industry here anymore. (All you have to do is check Jockey Club statistics and look at sales like the recent one in Timonium where there were as many PA-breds in the sale as NY-breds.) At a minimum, in the short run, the number of NY-breds born on an annual basis will have been cut in half from its high-water mark of a few years ago.

[jms62]

The powers that be need to create a TV commercial showing schools in disarray and the 1,000,000 dollars a day ticking upward on a chart.. Then end with a statement indicting Albany of dragging their feet for special interests while our children suffer... It'll get attention.

[Linny]

Originally Posted by parsixfarms

No truer words have been spoken. Given the VLT fiasco, NYRA has been able to cobble together cards largely due to the large number of NY-breds born after the Funny Cide breeding boom here in the state. If they don't get that problem solved soon, there may not be a breeding industry here anymore. (All you have to do is check Jockey Club statistics and look at sales like the recent one in Timonium where there were as many PA-breds in the sale as NY-breds.) At a minimum, in the short run, the number of NY-breds born on an annual basis will have been cut in half from its high-water mark of a few years ago.

Remember, it was not just Funny Cide, but the promise of VLT revenue that drove the boom in NY. PA is seeing the same now, but they HAVE the slots already.

[parsixfarms]

Originally Posted by Linny

Remember, it was not just Funny Cide, but the promise of VLT revenue that drove the boom in NY. PA is seeing the same now, but they HAVE the slots already.

Agreed.

[philcski]

I went back and looked at what kind of cards they had the Saturday before the Belmont Stakes in '04, '05, '06, and '07 (before the recession- and PA slots- hit.)

May 29, 2004:
1) CLM 10K 1Mi 1/16th $17k (7 starters)
2) MSW 3U 7.5f $43k (8 starters)
3) ALW N1X 1Mi 1/16th Turf F&M 3U (6 starters)
4) CLM 30K 6f $27k (8 starters)
5) MSW 3U 1Mi $44k (6 starters)
6) ALW N1X 1Mi 1/8th 3U $46k (6 starters)
7) AOC 3U 1Mi 1/16th $56k (8 starters)
8) Sheepshead Bay-G2 $150k (7 starters)
9) MSW 3U 1Mi Turf $44k (11 starters)

June 4, 2005:
1) ALW N1X 1Mi $46k (5 starters)
2) NYB MSW 3U 6f F&M $41k (8 starters)
3) CLM 25k 1Mi $26k (6 starters)
4) NYB MSW 3U 7f $41k (8 starters)
5) ALW N1X 1Mi 1/8th (OFF TURF) $46k (4 starters)
6) NYB Stakes 6f $60k (6 starters)
7) ALW N2X 7f F&M $47k (6 starters)
8) Acorn Stakes-G1 (6 starters)
9) MSW 3U 1Mi 1/8th (OFF TURF) $44k (7 starters)

June 3, 2006:
1) NYB ALW N1X 1Mi 1/8th (OFF TURF) $44k (7 starters)
2) MSW 2YO 5 1/2f $45k (4 starters)
3) CLM 50K 6 1/2f $39k (5 starters)
4) MCL 30K 6f $17k (7 starters)
5) NYB ALW N1X 5 1/2f $44k (7 starters)
6) NYB MSW 3U 5 1/2f $44k (7 starters)
7) CLM 30k 7f $38k (7 starters)
8) Sands Point-G3 (OFF TURF) (4 starters)
9) NYB MSW 3U F&M $49.2k (11 starters)

June 2, 2007:
1) STR $50k 6f $43k (5 starters)
2) CLM $30k N2L 6f Turf F&M $25k (8 starters)
3) MSW 3U 6 1/2f $43k (5 starters- including the iron horse HEDGE FUND!)
4) NYB MSW 3U 6 1/2f $41k (9 starters)
5) CLM $30k 1Mi Turf $40k (9 starters)
6) NYB ALW N1X 6f Turf $43k (10 starters)
7) NYB Stakes F&M 1Mi $65k (7 starters)
8) Sands Point-G3 (6 starters)
9) NYB MSW 3U 6f Turf $43k (11 starters)


A few things. Clearly, these cards are better quality than what is being offered this Saturday, so the recession and other tracks are clearly hitting NYRA hard (the 2005 card had very short fields but I remember that day- it was pouring and there were a ton of scratches). Second, the proliferation of conditioned claiming races (which they rarely used to write) is a direct correlation to the increased number of MCL races (just like to have ALW's at SAR you need MSW's at BEL...) Third, there was an 'examination' of Monmouth's (often bad) cards for many years- which is why they averaged only $3.1MM in handle per day last year.

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by HomerS

The "boom" in NY has been going on around 100 years

Long been recognized for putting out a quality product

Think everyone agrees they have seen better days

But not like NY needed Funny Cide to get people betting on their races.

She was talking about the NY Bred program.